In from the Cold
by AutumnHime
Summary: The five Gundam guys meet up with the five Senshi. Romance is in the air, at least, it is until something evil comes along! R/R, please
1. Beautiful Music

So, just so you know, as with From Then, To Now, Til Later, all of the older chapters have been edited, and there should be a new chapter at the end. (Here's hoping)

**In From the Cold**

**Chap.1: Beautiful Music**

"Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me..." a pure voice sang, the notes unearthly in the hauntingly silent clearing. Sunlight trickled down through the canopy of branches, the ethereal liquid gold gilding green leaves and creating lacy patterns on the ground.

A man stood in the center, his voice gradually dying away. Prussian blue eyes studied the forest floor for a minute, then looked up, piercing the shadows. He sighed. Four other young men stood in the shadows, the silvery sheen in their eyes speaking of unshed tears and pain that went too deep. From silent and normally staunch Trowa to justice loving Wufei to maniacal Duo and empathic Quatre, tears had appeared in all their eyes. 

Quatre stepped out into the light, singing softly, "I once was lost..."

Duo joined in, "But now am found," 

Wufei added his voice to the music, "Was blind,"

Finally Trowa stepped in, hesitant yet not. "But now I see..."

And the tears flowed freely. Prussian blue and sky blue, indigo and black and green shed tears of sorrow and of grief and eventually of healing.

The last notes finally died away, and nothing more was heard in that clearing as five 'former' Gundam Pilots left a place that had once shone with happy memories and rung with bright laughter.  All knew they would never return.


	2. 6 Months Earlier

**In From the Cold**

**Chapter 2: 6 Months Earlier**

A harvest moon shone down upon multitudes of children, skipping happily from door to door chanting, "Trick or Treat" and smiling cheerfully when they heard the 'plip-plop-thud' of candy in pillowcases, plastic pumpkins, and paper bags.

Five young men studied the to-do from a shadowy balcony.

"ARGH! It's Halloween and we are standing around like fuddy-duddies. NO MORE! It's time for me to have some fun!" shouted a 'priestly' young man. 

"But Duo!" protested the only blonde of the group.

"Nope! Don't 'But Duo' me, Quatre! And...you are all coming with me!" Maniacal laughter pealed in the evening air as certain disbelieving comments were heard.

"Hnnnn...."(Grunt Translator 2000: That's what you think)

"Braided baka, we don't want to go." A hawk-nosed black haired Chinese teenager muttered.

"........." Trowa yelled mutely.

"Duo, there is no possible way that we are going out with you." The calmest of the group declared. 

*More maniacal laughter*

"But you are," He stated slyly. "Because I have ransomed some of your most precious items! MWAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!"

At once, the four other teens searched their various hiding spots. Pockets, waistbands, backs, sub-space areas, and wherever else they could think to check were ransacked frantically. All came up empty.

"Give me my best friend back or omae o korosu, Duo." A hard, gravely voice commanded.

"Duo!!!" The Arabian Prince shrieked. "I want the picture of all 29 of my sisters, my mother, my father and myself back now!! Or I might just steal Heero's line!" A hard light flickered in Quatre's eyes, reminiscent of when the Zero System drove him mad.

Duo gulped, looking around for an escape. As he found none, he decided to stand his ground. After all, Quatre wouldn't kill him...would he?

The Chinese pilot was not as patient as Quatre. White pants rustling, Wufei moved to the fore, swinging out before the braided pilot could catch on. The pale hand stopped barely a centimeter away from Duo's nose. "Give me back my katana, braided baka," he hissed.

Trowa did nothing but glare. Duo had taken his clown mask and a picture of him and Catherine. Normally calm if silent, Trowa began to contemplate delicious tortures he could subject Duo to.

"If any of you are thinking of doing bodily harm to me before we go out and get candy, think again." Duo cried. "I have hidden them where you will never find them!" At that the four young men each grabbed one of Duo's limbs before turning him upside down and shaking the hell out of him. When nothing fell out besides a few stray papers, the four young men tore out of the room. 

"I'll check his room." Quatre called. 

"Deathscythe...braided baka..." Wufei put in.

"Hnnnn....." Heero put quite well in grunt language.

"So, if Heero has the kitchen that leaves the garden to you, Trowa." the Arabian decided.

"..." Trowa agreed.

Fifteen minutes later, a slump to their shoulders and defeat in their faces, the four Gundam Pilots stepped back out onto the balcony. 

"Told ya so." Duo smiled smugly. "Here are my terms if you want your stuff back. One, we go find costumes. You will wear them. I pick. Two, we go trick-or-treating. Three, you pretend to enjoy yourselves. Four. When we return, you get your special items back. And finally, five. You will refrain from killing, maiming, beating, scarring, annihilating, and in general harming me. I want you to swear on your Gundams. Except you, Heero. I want you to treat this as a mission, because we all know that you have no problems whatsoever blowing up Wing."

Four mouths dropped to the floor. Duo appeared to actually have thought something through. It was a Miracle. Hell must have frozen over, and the second Coming of Christ was finally here! At least...until they remembered what he had done. 

Reluctantly Heero, Wufei, Quatre, and Trowa promised. Each however was silently plotting revenge. 

"Let's go!" the indigo-eyed man enthused.

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Thirty minutes later, all was set. 

"Heeheehee HAWheeheeheeHaw," Duo rolled on the street holding his belly as he laughed. He couldn't help it. 

The costumes...well, if he had not made them promise not to mutilate him, Duo doubted he would have lived a minute after they returned home from trick-or-treating.

The Perfect Soldier, serious and unemotional, was a clown. Not like Trowa was a clown...more like an old clown he remembered seeing on TV reruns. What was the name?...B...Borscht...Boudoir....BOZO! That was it. Heero had a gigantic smile painted on his face and a rainbow colored sparkly 'fro. Brightly colored fisherman's waders and super-sized red floppy flippers completed the ensemble. In order for Heero to even walk, he had to waddle like the duck on wheels he was made to pull behind him.

Duo's purple gaze turned to Trowa. Trowa had been cast as a baby, gigantic diaper, over-sized pacifier, hair bow, bunny slippers, everything. He even had to ride in a stroller. Thank Shinigami for his acrobatic skill, Duo thought, smirking. 

Pushing the stroller was...A CROSS-DRESSED WUFEI. Wufei wore a long red wig streaked with black, and an outfit that could only be described as scandalous. A white leotard formed the base of his costume, hugging his body. At his hips flared a skimpy five inch (if that) red skirt, barely skimming the top of his thighs. A red sailor shoulder cover ended in a violet bow with a red jewel in front, and a red bow in back tied the outfit together. Heavily applied make-up and "break-my-ankle" red heels completed his (drumroll please...) Sailor Mars wanna-be outfit! Just looking at him made Duo almost die from the hilarity. 

The fourth member of the party, however, was the best. Quatre...well, let's just say that Quatre had been dressed as if Batman, Rambo, and Superman had been chopped up, mixed around, and poured into a single body. Not to mention the Playboy bunny ears and tail and his tomato red blush. Duo tried valiantly but just could not manage to hold it in any longer. He howled, tears streaming down his face, ignoring the scorching glares his for comrades had just given him.

Unlike the rest, Duo had chosen a non-demeaning costume. He, of course, went as Death. But for some reason, people avoided him like they avoided the plague.

"On a public thoroughfare! Really!" One pedestrian commented. And "Must call Bedlam to tell them that an inmate has escaped," was quite frequently heard as well.

Finally, Heero, of all people, yelled, "ENOUGH!!! Duo, stop making like a hyena or we are leaving!"

That shut Duo up, and they were on their way to get candy.

At least they were until Heero put a flipper wrong and ended up tripping himself over his ducky-on-wheels's string, avalanching down a hill right into a gaggle of girls. 

The world finally stopped spinning, and the last thing Heero heard before the lights went out was, "It's IT!"

tbc

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Alright, I admit that I'm not the best at humor...I try, though! Hope you enjoyed chapter 2, chapter 3 will be out soon!


	3. Oops, I tripped!

**In From the Cold**

**Chapter 3: Oops! I Tripped!**

Usagi, the Inners, and Hotaru walked along the sidewalk. They had taken this trip to America because Luna had heard rumors of another evil brewing, but for them at least, it was a working holiday in addition to their undercover jobs.

Yet the night was nice, a little spooky with the cool breeze and orange moon, but nice all in all. The young women chattered among themselves as they strolled around in an older neighborhood in their 'costumes'.

Usagi laughed, her amusement in the fact that they were strolling along in the actual Sailor Senshi uniforms and nobody caring very clear. She laughed harder when her friends turned to stare at her with a look of "Uh-oh, she's losing it." Eventually gaining control of her uncontrollable giggling, Usagi gestured to the outfit she wore and the others began to chortle as well. 

Abruptly a large, brightly colored --thing-- attracted her attention. It rolled toward them from the top of the steeply sloping street moving with the implacability of an avalanche. It would not stop until inertia affected it or it hit somebody. Like her. As it was about to do.

"Ugh!" Air whooshed from her lungs as the almost expected but not quite object careened into her, knocking Usagi flat on her derrière, and she cried out as her head hit the rough cement sidewalk. Stunned, the only thing she heard was Mina screaming "It's IT!" before her world went white.

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Duo and the other pilots attempted to grab Heero before he fell, but Duo's hand missed by a finger width, grasping only air. 

The four remaining young men leaped into action without looking. Down they went, down the hill, skidding and slipping, looking for all the world like escaped inmates from an insane asylum. Not prepared for impact at the bottom, the four stumbled into four young women in really skimpy outfits. 

Duo recovered his balance first and looked at the woman he had embraced in an attempt to slow his supersonic speed. She held his elbows, trying to keep them both steady. He started his appraisal there, then followed the white gloves to green trim to an *ahem* nice body and finally allowed his indigo orbs to meet her grass green ones. Soft, curly brown hair fell gently around her shoulders and...

"Umm, could you let go of my shoulders please?" a husky contralto gently broke into his daydreams. 

"What?" Duo noticed that he still had not let go of the girl's shoulders and hastily dropped his arms. "Uhhh...sure! I'm Duo!" he introduced himself chipperly, attempting to hide his nervous fiddling with the end of his chestnut braid.

"Makoto Kino." The girl dropped her name as carelessly as she dropped to her knees to check on an unconscious woman at her feet. 

"Is he a friend of yours?" Another feminine voice, this one a warm and smoky alto, attracted Duo's attention. 

Duo swiveled his neck, trying to pinpoint where the voice had come from. He spotted a raven-haired girl with eyes like his own wearing a costume nearly twin to the man she had questioned. 

"Yes, onna, he is." Wufei's brisk, scornful tone screamed astonishment, as the female he had been talking with turned her back on him at the 'onna' to assist Makoto in checking out her comatose blonde friend.

"Who picked your costumes?" A champagne voice; bubbly, rich, and sweet came from a young woman with long blonde hair talking to Quatre. 

"The guy with the braid in the Death costume, Miss...?" Quatre stammered, previous tomato blush skyrocketing to a fire-engine red.

"Minako Aino," she laughed out as she watched the blush deepen. Her orange sailor flaps flew up as she too knelt on the cement walk. 

Duo then directed his attention to the only pilot besides the unconscious Heero who hadn't spoken. 

The tall uni-bang man had been 'rescued' by an incongruously short blue-haired female, who then lowered herself to the cold pavement in order to take the pulse of the knocked-out blonde's pulse. 

Will she be okay, Ami?" Makoto demanded.

"Usagi'll be fine, Mako-chan. She's taken harder falls than this before," Ami looked up, an indecipherable look passing between her icy blue eyes and Makoto's green ones. "Hotaru, if you're finished assisting the clown over there, if you would please..." and she gestured towards Usagi. 

The four Gundam pilots started, for while they had noticed the four young women who had caught them, all had overlooked the pale, Gothic-looking pre-teen. 

Hotaru delicately sat on the ground. Ami then shifted Usagi's head into her lap. 

Hotaru placed her china-white hands on both sides of Usagi's head. As her purple-black eyes focused in concentration and a small frown played on her lips, Hotaru's hands began to glow a clear violet. The aura spread until it covered Usagi's body. 

Usagi's eyelids began to twitch. Hotaru fell backwards, feathery dark hair lofting upward as Makoto caught her small frame, exhausted despite the tiny nature of the injury.

Meanwhile, as Usagi recovered from her quick lesson in avalanche/clown survival, the four pilots finally remembered the original reason they had come running helter-skelter down a steep hill into a gaggle of girls. 

"HEERO!" Quatre exclaimed, bending down to check on his friend. The rest of the male teenagers gathered around quickly.

"Is he okay, Q-man?" Duo asked nervously.  If Heero was hurt…Duo didn't want to even imagine the consequences. 

"He's fine, Duo, not even a bruise, strangely enough." Quatre replied reassuringly, forgetting Duo's prank temporarily.

"Hotaru healed him before she healed Usa-chan," Ami's voice froze the young men. "Did you think we'd let somebody injured just stay injured? Even if they were the cause of the accident originally?"

Duo held up his hands, attempting to appear small and unthreatening, "Whoa there, little lady," the American-born pilot drawled to the best of his John Wayne impersonation abilities.

Makoto's emerald eyes sparked dangerously in his direction, "Don't call her little lady! And don't tell her WHOA! My friend would not have been hurt if your friend had exercised a little caution in shoe wear!"

"Ummm, yeah," Duo groped for a way out of trouble. "I told him..."

Before he could get out an excuse, Trowa and Wufei looked accusingly in his direction, silently telling him that if he lied, their revenge would be that much harsher. Luckily for him, the five girls had begun to argue among themselves whose fault this all had been.

The Arabian Prince took pity upon his mischievous friend. "Excuse me," he timidly stated. When that brought no reply among the squabbling females, he cleared his throat and stated with the same volume, "Excuse me." 

No reply.

Finally, Wufei could take it no more. "EXCUSE ME YOU BAKA ONNAS! I believe my friend here has something to say." Five pairs of angry feminine eyes swung toward Wufei. 

"What did you call us?" The Sailor Mars costumed female asked. 

"I wouldn't be saying those kinds of things while wearing that," Minako's champagne voice had turned to vinegar.

"Obviously your mother did not teach you that females should be respected." Makoto's eyes held a hard, fighting gleam. 

"EXCUSE ME!" Quatre shouted. The same five pairs of ire-filled eyes jerked towards him, and the poor platinum blonde almost ran away when he saw the look. _Scary._ "In order to make excuses for this most unfortunate incident," he continued more quietly, "I would like to offer my home up for your use. It is just up the hill a ways. Your friend might recover more quickly in a soft bed in a quiet room and a warm hourse, than out here on the cold, wet pavement."

"Did you get the number of that clown?" Usagi croaked weakly, slowly lifting her lashes to look around in confusion.  She raised one hand to her head, and used the other to push herself up to a sitting position on the ground. 

"USAGI!" Clamored the loyal senshi, rushing to help their friend stand. 

"Hnnnn..." A weak groan escaped Heero's lips as he began to recover from his experiences as a human boulder. 

Rei turned and looked at the platinum haired boy from her position as Usagi's crutch. "We accept your offer..."

"Quatre," Quatre introduced himself. 

Silent and graceful, Trowa sidled up to the swaying Usagi and picked her up. What escaped the tall pilot's notice was the way that her friends had reacted defensively when he moved, with a slight twitch of the muscles and short abortive movements. This went uncommented on, but not unnoticed by both Heero and Quatre. Quatre promptly forgot about it as he led the way up the eerily lit street, but Heero filed it for later as he stood and began to walk with the help of Wufei. He had a feeling....of course that could just have been nausea from the fall, but still...

tbc

Let's see...this isn't quite as good as my first two chapters. It seems a little to awkward, but I needed them to meet and this seemed to be the best way. I hope you enjoyed this part...and I don't mean to make any of the Senshi sound witchy, that just kind of happened. I have a feeling that Ami, while the shyest of the group would probably be the most vocal if Usagi had been hurt in some way that could have been prevented. 

Stay tuned for the next chapter

AH and the Beverley Hillbillies: Y'all come back now, y'hear?

Quote of the Day: "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio; than are dreamt of in your philosophy." --Hamlet


	4. Quiet at Last

**In From the Cold:**

**Chp 4: Quiet at last**

The costumed group of Gundam pilots and Sailor Senshi had finally made it to Quatre's 'house'. The ragtag procession had trekked up the street and then turned right. Quatre led the way, with Duo incessantly chattering to Rei, who looked like she was about to throttle something and preferably the braided brunette walking beside her. Trowa cradled Usagi tenderly in his arms, Minako walking beside him to make sure nothing further happened to her friend. Heero, with the help of Wufei, limped behind them. Making up the last of the group, Hotaru rode piggyback on Makoto while Ami stayed with them to keep them company. Cobblestones gleamed dimly in the shadowy moonlight.

Quatre paused. The Sailor Senshi were aghast, agape, and in general agog, when he turned, smiling, and said, "We're here."

The house wasn't even a house...it was a mansion, gigantically huge. A whole town could probably live there and not worry about meeting one another or about the lack of privacy.

Mina turned to Quatre, "Do you work here?" Her eyes begged him to say 'yes' for despite her wish to be a star, she never thought she'd ever actually meet someone with enough wealth to own this kind of a house. 

Quatre grinned, shy and innocent. "As a matter of fact," he replied, "I do." He opened the heavy walnut door and led the company inside. 

The girls - minus Usagi who had promptly fallen asleep when she realized she wouldn't have to walk after Trowa picked her up- chatted quietly among themselves, occasionally whistling at the wealth located in one room, while their host took charge.

"Trowa, you can put her down in the study, and if the rest of you," He looked at the five Sailor Senshi, "would like to follow him, you can all rest there while I get refreshments for us all."

Mutely, Trowa nodded, and strode off to a corridor on the right. The rest of the Senshi followed him. 

Quatre now looked at Heero, who still had an arm around Wufei. "Are you alright, Heero?" 

"Hnnn..." 

"Then, I guess we should all adjourn to the study." He headed in that direction after a brief pause to ask a servant for refreshments for eleven.

The three teens still standing in the entry hall nodded.

By the time Quatre, Wufei, Duo, and Heero had entered the oak paneled room, Usagi had awakened.

"WOW!!!" The blonde's bright voice cried. "They're CUTE, minna."

Her friends blushed. For that matter, so did Quatre, and if one looked closely, a teeny tiny extra amount of blood also graced Trowa, Wufei, and Heero's faces. Duo simply reveled in the compliment, taking the chance to do what he did best. Lighten the atmosphere.

"Awwwwww, look at that, Q-man is blushing." Duo teased then gulped when Quatre turned and glared at him, reminding Duo that Quatre already had a grudge list on him, and it probably wasn't a good idea to piss him off again.

"Hello," Quatre smiled. "It seems kind of awkward that we don't know each other's names."

"No kidding," Ami muttered, "Much harder to yell at people that way."

The room went silent. Ami looked up, sheepish. "Did I say that aloud?"

Usagi nodded. 

"Eep."  The blue-haired girl pinkened and ducked her head in her hands.

"So..." Quatre continued as if he had never been interrupted. "I'm Quatre Raberba Winner."

"OHMISWEETGODDESS." Rei shrieked. Her friends looked at her like she had gone loony. "You don't know the Winner Corp.?" she asked, dumbfounded. 

The Sailor Senshi shook their heads. "It's ONLY the largest and wealthiest privately owned company in the Earth sphere and the colonies. And Quatre R. Winner is the owner..." Five of the six teenagers looked up in shock. Hotaru looked as if she could care less.

Wufei spoke up, his sweet, sensitive side coming out. "I'm Wufei Chang, onnas. Not that you have any right to know my name, being weak as you are."

"Actually, his name's Wu-anything but Fei," Duo inserted. 

"MAXWELL!!! FOR THE LAST TIME, MY NAME IS WUFEI.  USE IT!!!" Wufei reached for his trusty katana. His hand gripped only air. "DAMNIT MAXWELL!! GIVE ME MY KATANA BACK!" He began chasing Duo around the room.

"EEP! If you kill me, you'll never find your katana!" 

"Maybe, but I'll have had the satisfaction of killing you!"  The enraged pilot shouted back.

The chasing, and the threats continued on for several moments. Finally, winded, Duo gave up and plopped down on the floor next to Hotaru and Makoto. 

Wufei kept running around in circles until finally Rei, in revenge for his sexist remarks, tripped him flat on his face. 

"If we could please finish the introductions, folks?" Quatre asked sweetly, ignoring the chaos.

"Duo Maxwell, babes." The pilot of Deathscythe nodded.  "I may run, I may hide, but I never tell a lie."

"Hnnn..." Heero grunted.

"..." Trowa introduced himself eloquently.

Quatre, about to go apocalyptic as he knew his friends could speak, took a deep breath when Usagi jumped in. "Nice to meet ya, Heero, Trowa." 

Rei, Minako, Makoto, Hotaru, and Ami stared. Heero, Duo, Quatre, Trowa, and Wufei stared. The whole world stared at the odangoed blonde. Usagi stared back, then shrugged. "I speak grunt and ... too. It was one of my elective courses last year."

A general murmur of understanding swept through the room.

"I'm Rei Hino," the violet-eyed priestess said.

"Ami Mizuno." 

"Makoto Kino."

"Usagi Tsukino."

"Hotaru Tomoe."

"And I'm Minako Aino." The bubbly blonde waved cheerfully.

"So what are you all doing here?" Heero finally deigned to speak. "Your names are Japanese."

"Business." Ami succinctly put it, when Rei said, "Pleasure."

The girls laughed.

"We're here on a kind of working holiday." Makoto explained. "Our school is paying to send us to the Peacecraft Academy, San Francisco Chapter. We start tomorrow."

"Really?" Quatre asked. "That's where we go." 

"Cool. So maybe we'll see you around tomorrow." Makoto said. 

Hotaru suddenly yawned, causing a chain reaction in all of the girls. 

"Maybe we should get going..." Ami suggested.

"If you like, One of my servants can drive you home." Quatre offered.

Before her friends could protest, Usagi had accepted. 

"We'll see you tomorrow, everyone." she called, as they left the house. The laughter left with them, leaving the house quiet and sad.

The pilots left for their rooms without saying good night to one another.

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Another pathetic chapter. I have an idea about how I want this story to go, but it just isn't flowing right. I'll try to make up for it in the next chapter.

Next Chapter: Revenge and School 


	5. Wake Up Calls

Meet the glorious, gorgeous chapter five of In From the Cold. In the first part of today's episode, the girls and guys get ready to go to school and Duo's pissed-off colleagues prepare something evil for him. 

I would like to thank these people for reviewing: **Lina Hino**:  Thank you! **John Steppenwolf**:  Do random people pop into your reviews often?  And who's the Desert Fox?** Kaiya**: tell Fred I don't see how you put your foot in your mouth.  **Sailor Grape**:  I'm glad somebody agrees with me that Wufei deserved to be tripped. ** RubyRedDragon05**:  **; 0 }!  Heartless Spirit: **I'm sure Usagi likes you!  **Alexz**:  Here it is!!

In From the Cold Chp 5: Revenge and School By: AutumnHime 

Hotel Del Rico, 0700 hours 

The sun stretched itself upward, casting rose, purple, and gold shadows across the clouds as morning followed it, blue and bright with the promise of a new day. In an expensive hotel, six figures slept soundly in a suite. It appeared a little cramped, but they seemed comfortable enough. At least, they were sleeping both soundly and comfortably until the sharp BRRNNNNGGG of an incoming call shrilled across the still air. 

Usagi leapt off the floor. "WHAT! I am the Champion of Justice, Sailor..." She stopped, glancing around. No youma in this room BRRRRNNNNGGGG! The telephone rang again. Surprisingly enough, she had been the only one to wake up at the cry of the telephone. 

BRRRNNNNGGG! The phone demanded to be answered, more insistent at the delay. 

"UGGHHH! Someone stop that noise!" Rei muttered, stuffing her head under her pillow. 

The other girls had begun to shift restlessly as well. 

BRRRRNNG! Usagi jumped for the phone. "Hotel del Rico, Suite 204, Usagi Tsukino speaking." 

"...Good morning, Ms. Tsukino. This is your scheduled wake-up call." 

"Wake-up call! Nobody asked for a wake-up call!" 

"Someone named Setsuna phoned from your school in Tokyo, asking the Hotel to make sure everyone was up in time to be ready for their first day of school in San Francisco." 

' Setsuna? Why would she be calling?' Usagi pondered... 

"Ms. Tsukino? Are you still there?" The hotel clerk halted Usagi's musings. 

"Hai, arigato. I will tell the others." Usagi gently placed the receiver into its cradle. She drew in a deep breath and counted 'One...Two...Three...' "WAKE UP EVERYONE!!! SCHOOL DAY!" 

A barrage of pillows flying towards her expressed her friends' gracious thanks towards this oh-so welcome news. 

Makoto sat up, rubbing at her eyes in an effort to clear them. "Wha?" She stumbled to her feet. "I'll go make breakfast, I

suppose." Her shoulders slumped, wild brown hair tumbling loose, Makoto shuffled off to the kitchenette. 

Ami also stood. Her navy hair brushed her chin, neat as a pin, despite the sudden wake-up. She had no bleariness in her eyes, only a kind of good morning cheer, that, according to her friends, was sickening to be around. Usagi envied her togetherness. Despite Hotaru' s healing the night before, her body still felt as if it had been pounded. No bruises, however, just the memory of bruises remained. 

"I'm going to grab one of the bathrooms to take a shower." Ami declared, and strode off. 

"This is no way to treat a future star." Minako whined. "Why do I have to go to school?" 

"Because Luna sent us here to do a job. Not to mention that if we don't go, our school hauls us back to Tokyo before we discover if Luna was right to say that there are monsters here. Our parents certainly aren't going to field the cost of keeping us in San Francisco, especially if we aren't going to school. Does THAT explain why?" Rei practically bit Mina's head off.  Despite the fact she was normally an early morning riser, she never had the best temper in the early hours. Or in the afternoon hours. Or in the evening hours. All right, truthfully, Rei always had a short fuse, but she still made a great friend. 

As Rei left the room, Mina grinning in a taken aback sort of way, made a little "RreEaorw" noise, forming one small, capable hand into a claw. 

"Anybody seen Hotaru, yet?" Makoto walked back into the salon where the five seventeen year-olds had slept, a cup of herbal tea in her hand. She appeared more alert with it. 

Usagi shook her head, thick, loose blonde hair barely moving. (A/N: have you ever had hair that was so long (hence SO (heavy) that it seemed impossible to move it?) "She might still be sleeping." 

"Hmmm..." Makoto pondered. "I won't disturb her. She had a rough night last night, what with all the healing." 

         "No kidding. If we see those guys again," Usagi's thoughts flashed to the multi-colored poofy haired Heero of last night. "I don't know what we are going to do to explain how she did it if they ask." 

"Hmmm..." Makoto mused, "They didn't ask us last night." She grinned, eyes sparkling. "We can always hope they find us so cute that they forget about it!" 

Usagi grinned back. Then her grin faded. The slightly acrid stench of smoke hung lightly upon the air. "Umm, Mako-chan did you leave the oven or anything on?" She gestured to the faint wisps of black smoke wafting through the air. 

Makoto squealed, about -facing and racing back into the kitchenette. "I forgot!" She wailed. 

Despite the trials and tribulations of the next hour and a half, the five Inner Senshi were soon ready to go. Hotaru still slept soundly on the bed in the single bedroom of the suite. Ami had written her a note detailing that the rest had gone to school, and to call via communicator if she needed anything. 

The girls were off to their very first day of school. The air as they left the suite shimmered prismatically, and light, tinkling laughter drifted disturbingly in the still silence of the salon. 

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Quatre's Mansion, 0500 hours

  


In a still, silent, darkened hallway of the mansion, a shadow moved. Stealthily, it crept towards the slightly blacker depth of an entryway. The shadow glanced right and left, before twisting the cool metal of the unseen doorknob and backing into the room behind him. 

A floorboard creaked under its weight. "HHHEHHH" The shadow sharply inhaled. When nothing happened, a sigh of relief, just barely audible, was sucked up into the void of the quiet room. 

"No one's in here, Quatre. Don't worry." The shadow whispered to himself. Quatre moved softly towards the near left wall, heading for the light switch. 

CLICK! A small sound, a deadly sound, ricocheted off of the cool cement wall. 

Quatre whirled into action, short blond hair whipping the other side of his head. "Oofl" The soft whoosh of air as he crashed and rolled on the ground away from the noise sounded loud to his ears. 

Another click, this one not so deadly, rang through the room as an electric buzz filled the once undisturbed atmosphere, then bright, neon white fluorescent light flooded the room like sunshine. 

"What's going on?" The pilot of Sandrock cried, looking around. Heero stood not ten feet from him, gun pointed down towards the ground and at his side, the safety back on. Trowa, tall and silent, patiently waited by the light switch Quatre himself had been going for. From a hidden corner, Wufei unfolded himself. 

Realization dawned in Quatre's light blue eyes. "It looks like we had similar ideas." 

All four looked at each other, and grinned an evil grin. One could almost hear the "MW AHAHAHHAHAHA " echoing off walls. 

They quickly got to work. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Quatre's Mansion, 0745 

"Du-o, Du-O," Quatre's light tenor tickled Duo's ears. 

Duo began slowly drifting up out of the dream painted halls in which he slept. 

From far off, another voice, Wufei's smugly assured voice, stated, "I don't think he's going to get up, maybe we should just demolish that breakfast by ourselves?" 

At the mention of food, Duo escalated faster from his sleep-fogged coma. 

"Hnnn...chocolate covered Bavarian cream-filled eclairs...hnn." 

"TOUCH THE ECLAIRS AND FACE THE WRATH OF SHINIGAMI!" Duo bellowed, throwing off his 08th MS Team Gundam ™ comforter to reveal boxers imprinted with chibi-DeathScythes 

"..." Trowa sighed, impatience tingeing the silent words. 

"You might want to hurry-up and get dressed, Duo-chan (1)," Quatre gently chided. "We have school today, remember? Lady Une thinks that there may be some kind of funky faction building at Relena's academies. She won't like hearing that we've been slacking off." 

Duo blinked, indigo irises reflecting only a lack of comprehension as his sleep-glazed brain tried to process Quatre's words. 

"What??? Foooooooooddd" He groaned. 

"After you get ready. Go take a shower, we'll pick something out for you to wear." Quatre ordered quietly, turning so that the crazy smirk on his face would go unnoticed by the braided pilot. "Oh, and Duo?" 

The pilot turned. 

"Where are our mementoes?" 

Despite the screaming in his head that he shouldn't answer that question, Duo replied, "In your bedrooms." 

Shocked, the pilots looked at one another. 

"Okay, now go and get ready, Duo." The platinum blonde made little shooing motions with his hands. 

Duo obeyed, shuffling off towards the bathroom. 

He still wasn't thinking straight after his shower. Without comment and without looking, he took the garments Quatre offered silently, not noticing the malicious glances the pilots exchanged as they left him to get dressed. 

After he had finished, the five pilots sat down at breakfast together. 

"Do you think we'll meet those six girls again today?" Quatre offered as an opening bid for conversation. Duo was rapidly stuffing his face with all of the goodies piled high on the rosewood table in front of him. Heero merely stared at his laptop screen, and shoveled food in his mouth in that way only truly absorbed people can manage... without dropping a single thing on him anywhere. 

Wufei deigned to answer, looking up from whatever he was holding. "There are more things in heaven and earth, dear horatio, then are dreamt of in your philosophy. " 

Quatre laughed. "Impressive, Wufei. When did you become interested in Hamlet?" 

The scholarly warrior merely smirked in response. 

Duo's interest, however, peaked. "Hamlet? Is that some kind of bacon?" 

Wufei stared at the brunette pilot, disapproval and disbelief combining to form some strange contortion of his face. "Duo, you braided baka, you need to read more and get some culture." 

"I am cultured." The happy-go-lucky pilot protested. "I read Dr. Suess! (2)" 

His pilot friends simply rose and left the table, even the seemingly deaf Heero. 

Trowa's seldom used speech capabilities were exercised. "Hurry up, Duo! We're leaving." 

Duo crammed the rest of his food into his mouth as he dashed out of the breakfast room, still not noticing his mode of dress, as he rushed off towards school. 

*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)*)

  


Author's Notes:

1. Did I make a faux pas? Can guys use the suffixes as well? Or do they have different ones, like –san or –kun? 

2. I'm sorry if that's not funny. My friends and I were sitting around a table when Dani and I got into a discussion about how people need to read more. A friend of ours named Matt, said the same thing, in reply to some general question asked the table. 

Yes, I know that I didn't get to the actual realization of revenge. That would be next chapter. Trust me, it is evil! Also, next chapter:: An enemy shows up! GASP! Usagi is caught unawares outside of school, and who is the person to come to her rescue?

 Ciao, 

AutumnHime 


	6. Ms. Duo Maxwell

You will please excuse this chapter.  In my opinion, it didn't even deserve to be edited.  Therefore, if people wish to flame me until I am blackened on the outside, permission freely granted.  This chapter, from what I remember of typing it at midnight last night, is not up to my usual standards.  I hope you still enjoy!  AH

For Chapter 5 reviews, I would like to thank:****

****

**Moonchild DJ:  Yea...and this seems soooo inadequate given the great reviews you always right but....THANKS!!!!**** Jessica:  Thank you for the check-up and the wonderful review! ****Kaiya: Tell Fred I'm sorry that I've made it impossible for you to listen to him.  (Although if he's your muse he obviously has some power! = )!) ****Jedi Knight: -- I like the name = )  Did you see Episode 2? **** Alexz:  Here's another chapter! **** Silvrei:  Revenge is most definitely sweet...like chocolate! ****Sailor Grape:  Who doesn't know that Hamlet is a kind of bacon??  ****RubyRedDragon05: oooooo....thanks!**

And for the correction of my grammar and for responding to the fact that I have no idea what suffixes go where currently (I'm learning as fast as my little brain allows):  **Moonchild DJ, Kaiya, and RubyRedDragon05!**

****

**In From the Cold**

**Chp 6:  "Ms. Duo Maxwell"**

**By AutumnHime**

               Footsteps pattered quickly down the empty hallway of the Peacecraft Academy of Pacifism and Learning.  

               "A-1....A-2...A-3...Ami, where are we?"  Usagi whined.  "We should have made it to the class by now.  The lady in the office said that we all had first period together and that it was in D-7 and that it was just right around a couple of corners, a left, two rights, three miles, and then we'd be there."

               Ami stopped, blue hair swinging as she turned to face Usagi.  "I know, Usa, but the map she gave us is strange.  I don't think the person making it was entirely sane."

               "What school map makers ever are?"  Makoto inquired.  "It doesn't matter, we have to find our class."

               "LOOK!" Rei exclaimed, pointing at a prominent sign in the middle of the terra-cotta and turquoise walls.  "It says that the D hall is down there."  A slim finger with manicured red tip pointed to the left.  

               "Then I guess that's the way we go."  Minako sighed.  "I really don't want to be here." 

               "Too bad!"  Ami chirped, and the girls began their mad-cap dash to find their classroom again.

MEANWHILE...

               "We are going to be late again!"  Wufei exclaimed.  "And it is all Maxwell's fault."

               Duo just kept running.  It was part of his normal routine, and took no thinking on his part.  

               "We know, Wufei," Quatre soothed, "but detention is not something we have to worry about!  After all..." he looked at Heero mischievously, "we have a way out of any punishment given.  Contact Relena, tell her that Heero would be willing to go out with her if she'd just take care of this tiny little problem, and..."  he ducked as Heero smoothly pulled out his gun and fired without even the traditional 'omae o korosu'.

               "...   .....   ..................."  Trowa commented wryly.

               "It IS quite extraordinary that he can hit the same exact spot everyday, Trowa."  Quatre remarked.  His blonde hair was slightly ruffled, and a few snippets had come off, but that was because he hadn't ducked fast enough.  It was routine for Quatre to be somewhat more...loose in the mornings.  By the time class started, it would be back to Mr. Nice, but for those few hours between waking and school Quatre could be a devil in a pink vest. 

               The four guys and mostly comatose Duo whipped around the last turn to their classroom.

               And belatedly noticed the five females standing in front of the classroom door.  They attempted to put on the brakes.  Four of them failed.

               A few seconds passed in stunned silence, then...

               "OW!  I think I hit my head!" a familiar voice spoke from under Quatre.    
               Like a flash, Quatre was up and blushing bright enough to be a traffic signal.  "Miss Minako...I am sooooooo sorry.  I don't know how that could have happened!" 

               He offered the classic beauty his hand, apologizing several more times.  

               "It's okay, Mr. Winner.  It just seems to be..."

               "An unfortunate coincidence."  Makoto's spring voice was muffled under Duo's weight.  "Can someone get this big galut off of me, please?  I think he's stunned."

               Quatre and Minako maneuvered with Minako giving Duo some strange looks.  She then helped Makoto off of the floor.  Makoto looked at Duo, then sighed. 

               "Why does everybody I'm even remotely attracted to have to be..." she shook her chestnut curls out, and then ran a hand through them.  "Oh well..."

               Quatre muffled laughter, and then apologized again.  

               By this time, Trowa had silently apologized to Ami and helped her up, his lanky frame even stranger next to her petite one than it had been last night.  

               A small whimper from Wufei caught the attention of the five. "ONNA!  YOU DID NOT HAVE TO BITE ME!!!"

               "Then you shouldn't have placed your hand there, baka! GET OFF OF ME!!!"  Rei shouted, shoving up on Wufei's shoulders.

               Wufei stood, disgruntled at having had such a lack of control as to run into the same onna yet again!  Everybody else ran into nice people...even Heero... "Where's Heero?" he asked, noticing the Perfect Soldier's disappearance.

               "For that matter,"  Rei spoke, both cross and concerned, "where's Usagi?"

               A small cough from around the corner got their attention.  Heero, with Usagi cradled in his arms, stepped into full view.  

               He set the diminutive blonde on the tile without further adieu and then opened the sliding door of the classroom.  The other pilots looked at each other

               "Stupid super-human perfect soldier," Wufei muttered.  Trowa and Quatre exchanged looks, picked up Duo, and followed Wufei into the room.  

               "GENTLEMEN!  YOU ALL HAVE DETENTION!" a sharp high-strung voice declared.  The girls shrugged.  It couldn't get much worse.  The teacher looked on disapprovingly as the five girls then entered the room.

               "And huh-oo might yah-ou be?"  A stern looking old lady with steel grey hair, a stern face, and granny glasses glared at the five senshi.

               "Ummm...we're the transfer students from Japan, ma'am."  Ami replied hesitantly, unsure of what to do in the face of such dislike.  

               "Introduce yourselves to the class quickly, and then sit down.  You are interrupting my class, young lady."  The fierce old biddy proclaimed.

               Each of the girls fought the urge to curtsey.  

               Minako went first.  Her blonder hair trailed down her back except for a single piece she kept fiddling with.  Her sapphire eyes sparkled with life.  "I'm Minako Aino.  Everybody's love!"  She declared.

               "Miss Aino.  Please take a seat in the third row, in front of Mr. Winner.  Mr. Winner raise your hand."  Minako glided up the aisle to her seat, and smiled at Quatre.  

               Next up was Makoto.  Her hair had been pulled back into it's normal high ponytail, and she kept tugging on the end.  Her peridot eyes darted back and forth with apprehension. "Watashi wa Makoto Kino.  Hajimemashite."  

               Ami nudged her friend and hissed, "In English Mako-chan!"

               Makoto blinked, then blushed a porcelain doll shade of pink.  "Gomen...I mean, I'm sorry.  My name is Makoto Kino.  I'm pleased to meet you all."

               "Ms.  Kino." the teacher looked down her nose at the tall brunette, quite an accomplishment as she was at least five inches shorter than Makoto and declared, "Take a seat by Mr. Maxwell.  Please raise your hand...MR. MAXWELL!  Raise your...MR. MAXWELL!!!" The teacher banged on her desk, trying to attract Duo's attention.  She then peered closer... "MR. MAXWELL!!!! Please stand up!  DUO MAXWELL!!! GET UP!"  The teacher's face turned brighter and brighter shades of red.  

               Wufei, afraid the evil dictator would have a heart attack, kicked Maxwell's seat.  Duo finally snapped out of his daze and his mind finally began to work.  

               "Wha-at?  Yes, Ms. Holstien, of course, Ms. Holstien." Duo began to move, and then realized he had no idea what he was supposed to do.  "Would you repeat that, Ms. Holstien?"

               "MR. MAXWELL YOU WILL REPORT TO THE PRINCIPAL TOMORROW.  IF YOU WILL PLEASE STAND UP NOW!"  The teacher had become almost apoplectic.   

               Duo did.  The whole class, having woken up do to the harsh, banshee like screaming in their ears, turned to stare.  Duo stood there, with his normally singly braided hair softly falling down his shoulders.  A creamy camisole with lace edging hugged his body and new bosom???  A lacy cream-colored cardigan softly enfolded his shoulders and a navy blue skirt with a slit up to ...there finished the clothing articles.  Somehow, he wore six inch stiletto navy heels without tottering.  The make-up he wore made him look like a highly paid lady of the night.  Navy eye-shadow with silver sparkles had been put on Cleopatra style.  His cheeks held the slightest pink blush on them.  A pale rose lipstick with a darker rose lip-liner finished his make-up.  Large clip on silver earrings dangled from his ears.  

               The whole class looked shocked.  "What...What's going on?  Duo asked, unaware of his outfit.    
               The normally humorless teacher snickered in a disapproving manner, causing the silent snorts of Trowa, Quatre, Heero and Wufei to erupt loudly. The class murmured to one another. 

               The teacher finally regained control of herself.  "MR. DUO MAXWELL...Or perhaps I should have said MIZZ DUO MAXWELL."  She began archly.  "While this is a liberal school, and we do believe that expression of the self better enables one to lead to peaceful solutions, don't you think you carried this a little too far?" Duo finally got it.  He looked down to see what outfit he had put on.  

               "OHMISHINIGAMI!!!!!!!!!!!" He yelped, then scrambled out of the classroom, knocking chairs, people, desks, whatever was in his way over in his rush to simply leave.  Behind him, his comrades-in-arms and friends laughed uproariously.  They couldn't stop...the look on his face...and the revenge was not even complete.  

               The teacher waited for a few minutes, hoping that the class would resettle itself.  When it didn't, she glared at the remaining girls as if the disruptions were all their fault, and yelled, "WE'LL FINISH INTRODUCTIONS TOMORROW.  GO FIND YOURSELVES SEATS!"

               The girls scattered.  Makoto took the seat that she had originally been given, next to Duo.  Ami ended up near a bunch of giggly girls and an empty seat marked, "Property of Relena, former Queen of the Earthsphere.  Sit here and be fined."  Rei sat between Quatre and a wall.  Wufei sat a few rows behind her.  She could practically feel his eyes burn into the back of her skull.  Usagi sat down right next to Heero.  She felt weird around him, but since he didn't feel evil, she thought it would be all right.

               She leaned over to stare at the laptop he had on his desk.  After his first few minutes of uncontrolled laughter he had abruptly stopped and now sat perusing his e-mail.  His cold blue eyes stabbed at Usagi as she attempted to see what he was reading.   
               "Hnn.n.n.n.n"  He grunted, pulling his laptop closer.

               Usagi pouted, blue eyes flashing in disappointment.  "Fine.  Be that way.  Just because you don't want to be nice."

               "Hnnn"  He grunted again, and then ignored the strangely coifed female next to him.  Who was this girl?  Was it coincidence that he had run into her twice?  Was it merely happenstance that he felt something towards her?  A beep drew his attention away from the inner turmoil that never showed upon his cold sharply chiseled face.  

               He quickly scanned the message and hit the reply button.  With quick deft strokes, Heero typed in one word.  "Accept."  His eyes changed imperceptibly.  They went from being hard and perceptive to hard, perceptive, and focused.  

               Usagi watched in interest as he placed two fingers to his lips and blew.  A loud sharp whistle  pierced the air.  The three other guys from last night looked up at this strange young man, and nodded.  Without asking permission, they strode from the room, the teacher merely looking resigned at what must be a frequently recurring incident of her class.  

               At least they had taken the annoying Duo with them, the teacher thought smugly.  No havoc creating chases between him, Wufei, a katana, and a gun today.  She almost grinned at the thought.  

               First period came and went.  The five young men that the girls had just met didn't return.  

               Second period began.  Usagi had Alternate Literature with Ami and Makoto.  The teacher, a Mr. Villaria, assigned them their book,  The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan, and then left the class to read or talk quietly for the rest of the hour. 

               "Where do you think they went?"  Makoto asked, eyes wide with curiosity.  

               "I don't know.  We just met them, and I already get the feeling that they may be different."  Ami declared.  "And I bet their disappearances are normal.  That Ms. Holstien didn't say anything when they left.  She didn't even attempt to send them to the principal!"

               "Do you think they are...you-know-what's?"  Usagi asked, breathless.  

               "Are you feeling something, Usagi?"  Ami inquired, aqua eyes focused on her princess.  "I didn't get the idea that they were evil, but you are normally more sensitive to these things."

               "No,"  Usagi murmured back. "I don't think that they are...but they do seem to have some kind of weird energy swirling around them."

               "Rei will probably know."  Makoto voiced her opinion huskily.

               "Excuse me,"  a young woman with short red hair and freaky black eyes interrupted.  "Are you talking about Heero Yui, Wufei Chang, Quatre Winner, Trowa Barton, and Duo Maxwell?"

               The three senshi looked at each other nervously.  Had they just broken some school taboo?  

               Usagi nodded.  "Yes, why?"  She asked hesitantly.  

               "Aren't they dreamy?" The red-head sighed, and her sigh was taken up by the rest of the female population in the class.  "It's too bad that Heero has already been claimed by Relena.  She always gets what she wants."  

               Usagi's eyes visibly darkened at this.  "Really?"  she muttered, trying to appear interested.  If Heero were already claimed...

               "Yes." The girl slapped her hand to her forehead. "How rude of me!  I haven't introduced myself.  I'm Andante Arpeggio.  I already know who you are.  We don't often get new students hear.  This is one of the lesser known Peacecraft schools."  The red-head continued to chatter, non-stop.

               Under her breath, Makoto commented to Ami and Usagi, "She reminds me of Minako. Never-stopping with the chatter.  On and on and on and on...just like the Energizer Bunny!"

               "...And you simply must meet Adagio, he's just the nicest person, and Pianissimo, and ...."

               Thankfully, the bell rang just about then.  

               Third period, Usagi was by herself in Calculus one.  Everybody else had progressed to Calculus two with Ami's help, but Usagi still didn't understand half of the principles involved.

               The teacher continued droning on about the curriculum of  limits and integrals and derivatives and things that no sane human would ever wish to understand.  She had just gotten to how long it would take them to understand infinite series and sequences and the LaGrange error involved when the door to the room slid open.

               The teacher, a rather non-descript mousy looking lady with the dubious privilege of having the name of  Mrs. Coloratura-Sienna, turned sharply to get a better look at the student that had been soo misguided as to have missed the beginning of her wonderful class.  Wufei and Quatre entered. 

               The teacher sniffed and turned back to the board,   obviously refraining from taking the young men down a peg or two.  

               Without a word, Quatre and Wufei moved to their seats.  Usagi waved a little at Quatre when she caught his eye, he grinned tiredly and waved back.  Then sat down right before the teacher turned around again.             

               The class dragged on.  Minute passed minute without end.  Usagi couldn't stand it anymore.  She raised her hand during a riveting discussion of why acceleration was a derivative of velocity which could be derived from position.

               "Yes, Ms. Tsukino,"  The teacher called in a female Ben Stein voice.

               "May I be excused please, Mrs. Coloratura-Sienna?  I feel a bit faint." She asked politely.

               "You may, Ms. Tsukino.  Next time, please just leave the class quietly."  The teacher replied.  

               Usagi walked out and headed outside to the colorful courtyard.  "Something's going to happen, Usa-girl, something."  She whispered to herself as she sat in the shade of a eucalyptus tree.  The air here was fresh, almost sparkling with purity.  After the ecological disasters of the twenty-first century, the world had gotten together to do something about pollution.  Clean air near a city San Francisco's size was one of the results.  She soon fell  into a quiet reverie.  

               The next thing she knew...

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I know I promised more, but its late, I'm tired, and I just wrote about Calculus for Pete's sake. I must be delirious.  

I'll see you next chapter when my writing skills return (hopefully)

AutumnHime

Word of Advice:  To the poor people out there who have not yet reached highschool or above...I was not lying about Calculus...it really is something no sane person should take.  LOL


	7. A New Twist

Feel free to yell at me for not updating in over, oh...three months!  I have been working at trying to get my three stories on the same chapter and then updating either all three at once, or one at a time, so that one doesn't get ahead of the other...It may not work...but..anyways, that and the fact that my chances to connect to the Internet are sporadic around here, have kept me from updating.  I hope you enjoy Chapter 7: Something strange happens

*Just so you know, my commitment to this story knows no bounds.  I could be watching Gundam Wing:  Endless Waltz right now...but I'm here, writing for you!*

Thank yous for the loverly reviews go to: **PenPen-** maybe, maybe not;** Aeryn, Hima Tenshi & silver_punk- **Robert Jordan is pretty cool, but I've heard rumors that he's got cancer…know if that's true?**, Meiko Akiyama-** I'm sorry I'm sooo slow**, MarsMoonStar-** I don't have a lot more, but there is this chapter!**, Moonchild DJ-** I hope you found yourself again…And I would agree.  Slightly warped chapters work**, Saturn-gal14-**It's a secret…**, alexz-** actually, I kind of liked Calculus…it just took some time to get used to it;** Kotono-** But can't you just see Rei doing that?**, Sailor Grape- **You are absolutely right…Heero is always suspicious**, Heart Soul** –I don't mind questions…I just might not answer them all;** Jessica**

In From the Cold

Chp 7:  A new twist

By:  AutumnHime

               Usagi sleepily inhaled the fresh, warm, October air.  She stretched her arms out to their fullest length, yawning again as the muscles tightened and released.  She finally opened her sleep heavy eyes.  Cobalt blue met aquamarine.  

               "Whaaaaat!!!!"  Usagi shrieked, tumbling backwards from her perch on a bench in the courtyard of the the San Francisco Peacecraft Academy

               "Ouch!"  The blonde rubbed her backside.  "You know, you could tell someone you were standing there."

               Heero, inwardly amused, simply offered Usagi a hand up.  "Hnnnn...."

               "Look, you can speak in English, yes, or Japanese or French or Arabic?  Why don't you try one of those languages instead of Hnnese.  Translating can get annoying."  Usagi retorted, grabbing onto his hand.

               Heero merely looked down at the diminutive blonde from his lofty height of 6'0".

               "Fine, you know what, I don't care.  If you feel like being rude, then go right ahead."  Usagi snapped.  She turned around and started stalking back towards her class.  

               "School's out.  Your friends are looking for you."  For a guy who normally grunted, Heero's two sentences approached a speech.  

               "SCHOOL'S OUT?  HOW LONG HAVE I BEEN OUT HERE FOR?!"  Usagi whirled, screeching.  "I CAN'T BELIEVE I MISSED MEDIEVAL WORLD HISTORY...Ami's going to kill..."

               A shadow flickered in the corner of her eye.  What the...she stopped her tirade and studied the still verdant trees searching for the object that she had seen.  

               When she found it, Usagi almost reacted too late to stop it.  "HOLY...!!!  HEERO, GET DOWN!!!" She lunged for the lithe man.

               Heero, trained to react at the slightest movement, whipped out a knife, realizing to late to abort his movement that it was only the crazy Japanese girl.  The knife slid in without a sound, even as they both were born to the ground.  Usagi closed her eyes, breathing deeply as the blood began to pulse from her wound.  Behind them, a tree, slashed neatly in a diagonal manner, crashed to the ground.  Whatever had made the cut, had hit the tree at exactly the same height as Heero's neck.  

               Heero glared at the girl lying on top of him, and then at the tree.  

               Meanwhile, Usagi reached for the knife.  

               "HnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnN..." Heero cursed, grabbing her hand.

               "Look, you have to get out of here.  Whatever that was, it was aimed for your head, not mine.  And never mind what the hell I'm doing.  You stuck the knife in me, what the hell were you doing?"

               "Hnnnn."  Heero looked daggers at the petite blonde still shielding him with her body.

               "NO.  If you are the target of whatever that attack was, there is no way that you can shield me.  And STOP GRUNTING!  IF I HAVE TO TELL YOU ONCE MORE..." Usagi screamed and reached down.  The knife slid out of her thigh with a sickening slurp, crimson flowing faster.    

               Heero couldn't take his eyes off of the blood flowing out of this girl's...Usagi's body. It was the second time he had hurt her in less than a day.  Must be a new record...hurting an innocent twice, and in one day, no less. 

               Usagi, however had her eyes on the surrounding vegetation, trying to see if the attacker was still there.   Scanning the perimeter, she passed up a clump of gardenia bushes.  Then wound her way back to them.  Red eyes deliberately caught hers. 

               "HNnnn...HNN" Heero grunted, trying to see whatever it was that Usagi had seen.  

               Usagi tightened her body, waiting for the attack she knew was coming, the attack she knew she wouldn't survive.   She kept her eyes on the creature, knowing that any sign of movement from it could be a valuable lesson.  She had learned that from Mako-chan. 

               CRRraaaacck!  A dry twig broke as someone carelessly stepped on it, out-of-sight.  The two antagonists, both glanced up at the noise.  

               "I tell you, I think I heard Usagi scream up here not a minute ago." Minako's voice carried clearly in the tension-filled air.  

               "Good.  Let's hope that you're right, and then we can go back to the hotel and see how Hotaru is doing."  Ami declared.  

               The four girls rounded the corner, leaving a clear view of what was happening in the courtyard. 

               "USAGI!!!"  They cried, rushing to their friend's rescue.  

               Usagi almost screamed, afraid the mysterious attacker would come after her loyal companions, as well.  Her eyes darted in the direction of the attacker.  The red eyes had disappeared.  She heaved a sigh of relief, and felt Heero lift her up, so that he could shift to a sitting position and cradle her shoulders at the same time. 

               "What have you done to her this time," Rei demanded coldly.  Usagi heard the snick of a blade that Rei always carried sheathed about her her body somewhere in easy access.  Before Usagi could tell them it wasn't his fault, blood loss and the sudden drop of adrenaline caused her to sink into unconsciousness.

               Heero quietly explained what had happened to the four girls whom he decided really were Usagi's protectors.  One of them, unobtrusively, prowled the courtyard, as the blue-haired one took a look at Usagi's wound.  A third one, this one brown-haired, just looked worried, as she made a phone call to someone named Setsuna.  And the fourth one, the raven-haired girl knelt in front of him, a precarious position that he could take advantage of if he felt like it, playing with a knife in her hand, to look threatening.  

               "Look.  I found your friend napping under a tree.  I woke her up, told her school was out, and that you were looking for her.  The next thing I know, she's yelling at me to get down and rushing at me." Heero did his best to look sheepish.  "Living during the war has made me a little wary about going unarmed.  I pulled a knife that I normally carry in my boots, meaning to fend her off from tackling me.  Unfortunately, I completed my movement too late.  Then, I'm lying on the ground, she's bleeding on me, and behind us this tree topples cleanly from its base.  All right?  That's the whole story."  

               "Makes sense."  the blue-haired one, the one that Trowa kept running into...Ami, agreed.  "Will you do us a favor?"  she asked the dark haired man hesitantly.  

               Heero nodded.

               "Carry her down to the car for us.  Hotaru is at home, and I need better medicinal equipment to take care of Usagi's wound."

               Heero grunted.

               "I'm sorry.  I don't speak grunt like Usagi does."  Ami remarked, not looking at him.  

               "All right, everybody.  Let's head back to the hotel."  

(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&

Later that night at the girls' hotel...

               "Let's hear your side of the story, Usagi-hime."  Rei settled herself into one of the couches that dotted the suite.  

               "Here goes.  That Japanese friend of Mr. Winner, Heero Yui, woke me up when I was taking a nap in the courtyard.  We had an argument, and I was about to stalk off back into school when he tells me that school's out, and that you are looking for me.  So, I whirl about and am about to give him a piece of my mind when I notice a black shadow in one of the trees, and it's_ not  looking at me.  It's staring directly at Heero.  I yell at Heero to get down, and rush him, to knock him out of the way.  Heero, however has excellent reflexes.  He has a knife pulled before I realize it.  It goes into my thigh, I knock Heero down, landing on top of him, and the tree behind us topples like somebody decided that lasers need to come back in style.  We get into an argument, I pull out the knife, Heero becomes entranced by the wound, and I spot the shadow again...and it's got __red eyes.  Then you show up, the shadow disappears and I faint."_

               "That's more or less what that guy told us."  Makoto said.  

               "What I don't understand," Hotaru spoke up.  "Is if the news that Usagi is Sailor Moon, the Neo-Queen, and whatever else has gotten around, and we know that it has...why were these creatures after the _guy and not her?!"_

               "I don't know, Hotaru, I don't know.  But this doesn't bode well for the holiday portion of this working-holiday.  And I can't help but wonder if either Setsuna or Luna knows more than what they are telling us..." Usagi trailed off, and all of the Sailor Senshi looked more worried than ever.

(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(& &(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&(&&&(&(

It's short, I know.  But it's out.! Yeah!  Only five months or so after the last one!  Yeah!

Tee-hee!

AutumnHime


	8. Research

So here's the sitch…I know that you haven't heard anything from me for a while, but that's not because I'm not writing, it's because I no longer have any way to get my stories from my computer to my mother's.  My A: drive doesn't work so I can't transfer to a disk, my one way to connect to the Internet has mysteriously disappeared…and in general, posting my chapters has become a major obstacle course.  In order to get even this much to you, I've been forced to open up the story files on my computer and retype them onto my mother's laptop. Oh what fun!

         I am of course really sorry for the delay.

Anyways, thanks for reading and don't forget the only thing that I own is my plotline…the characters aren't mine…yet…

In From the Cold 

**Chapter 8:  Research**

**By:  AutumnHime**

         The next school day passed without a hitch.  No strange incidences, no disappearances on the part of the five boys they had recently met.  The only thing that occurred that was remotely strange was about the Gundam DeathScythe.  It had appeared yesterday flying around in pigtails, heavy make-up, and a schoolgirl uniform.  In fact, the white blouse that had somehow managed to fit around the machines had even had pins bearing the slogans: "Wing kicks DeathScythe's butt!" "Sandrock could take DeathScythe anytime!" "Nataku rules!" "Heavy Arms thinks DeathScythe's new appearance fits 'him' better than the other" and the cryptic message, "Revenge complete.  Seek retribution and the rat's tail that you adore will be chopped off."  This clipping from the newspaper had appeared all over the school, plastering the doors and walls.

         "This place is strange," Makoto commented, grabbing one of the many fliers.

         "No kidding."  Ami agreed, then lowered her voice. "I think we should try to find out as much as we can about Heero Yui and his friends.  Something that is going on here revolves around them and I want to know what!"

         Usagi nodded her head.  "I'm going to try getting in touch with Setsuna or Luna again.  If that doesn't work, I'm sure Haruka or Michiru would be willing to bug them for us."

         "If Usagi's doing that, I'm going to hit the gossip columns and the gossips here at school.  If anyone knows how to get the information out of a gossip, it is a gossip."  Minako declared, glad to have something to distract her from the tedium of schoolwork.

         "Great.  I'll go to the library to search the microfiche for any mention of their names or strange incidences.  I'll also do research on the Winner family background."  Ami made her choice.

         "Hotaru and I are decent hackers."  Rei declared.  "That'll be our area.  But," she continued wryly, "you had better be ready to help, Ami.  We didn't take extra computer classes like you did."

         "Makoto, green eyes wide with the excitement of doing something that felt sneaky, put in her two cents.  "I'll go out with Duo!  I can find out what he knows!"

         The girls laughed, familiar with the antics of their Amazon friend.

         "Perfect."  Hotaru commented, purple eyes wide. 

         "Ummmm…" Usagi hummed.  She breathed deeply; eyes closed, and then grinned.  "Time to go, folks!"

         The girls went their separate ways, wishing each other good luck on their individual tasks.

*               _               *              _             *             _              *               _                *             _                 *                  _                     *                   _                   *                      _                 *                     _                  *

         Heero stepped out from behind a column near to where the girls had been discussing their plans.  "Hnnn…hnnn." He grunted thoughtfully, scratching his chin.  The distance was such that it had been difficult to make out what they were saying, but he had heard the names "Luna" and "Setsuna" as well as "research".

         "Research sounds like a good idea."  Quatre commented, wandering from his own hiding spot, a stone bench secluded from view by the blossoming autumn flowers.  

         "What are we talking about?"  The oblivious chestnut-haired pilot, who had evidently gotten over his outrage at the prank his friends had pulled, strolled up nonchalantly.  He had been leaning against a lamp post, reading his favorite manga.

         "Baka!" A loud thwap punctuated the exclamation as Wufei, having magically appeared, hit the American pilot on the back of the head.  "Did you forget to pay attention?"

         "Owwwie."  Duo whined, violet eyes wide and full of hurt.  "Was that really necessary, Wufei?"  He complained, rubbing the swelling bump.

         "Yes."  The disciplined pilot replied.l

         Trowa landed with a soft thud, his twirling, whirling acrobatics earning him some random scattered applause from the people milling around.  He had been hiding in the branches of the an old plum tree, perhaps the same one Kano Sanetsu painted about three hundred years ago.

         "……………?"  The pilot's one showing eye rested steadily upon Heero.

         "Hnn. Research.  Quatre—business calls to any Asian partners you have.  Trowa—Library.  Wufei—you're with me.  Anything I find, you go in depth.  I'm on the 'Net.  Duo," he paused, Prussian eyes glaring with steely concentration.  "Do whatever you want." Pivoting on one foot, jacket swirling like Dracula's cape around him, Heero left the group and headed back to the mansion.  

         Duo's jaw dropped to the floor.  "B…bu…but…That's not fair!  I want an assignment.  C'mon guys, you can trust me right?"  He looked around for support.  A rabbit and a couple of leaves answered him.

*                   _                          *                  _               *              _              *             _                  *               _                 *                  _                     *                _                   *                  _                   *                      _

So there ends chapter 8 of IFTC.  Did we enjoy?  If not, review and I'll tell you all about my problems and how horrible reviews are likely to shove me off the edge…J/K…Neways, I'm doing my best to catch up and for those of you who think that I'm slow, because I am, know that I haven't checked my e-mail in a month.  If I haven't been kicked off my account, I'm going to be one lucky person.

Ciao 

AutumnHime


	9. Long, boring research

Trust me when I say that my writing probably sucks.  I haven't updated anything in like three months (maybe more) and my writing skills are never the best, even when I have been practicing.

**In From the Cold**

**Chapter 9: Research…long, boring research**

**AutumnHime**

"You know, I thought this would be easier."  Hotaru commented, pounding furiously at the keys.  "No school ever has this high a level of security.  I mean, when you can't hack into its network, there has got to be something hidden.  You having any luck, Rei?"

"Not a lick of it." Rei replied tersely.  "The minute I get through one backdoor, another wall appears.  I've never seen anything like it.  I think I might just try going through the Web and doing a search to see if any of their names pop up."

Both girls stopped their pounding as the voice of their fearsome leader rose steadily higher.  

"What do you mean they won't talk to us, Artemis?  Don't tell me to calm down and stop yelling, I want to know what is going on!  First we get sent here on a 'working-holiday' meaning we get to go to school, keep our eyes peeled for any suspicious Negaverse  activity, and don't get to have any fun, and then, AND THEN, when our first hint of that dark energy acting up does come, it isn't aimed at me, or my court, it's aimed at some guy who can walk out of class without getting into trouble, and who could probably kill without blinking and  you are telling me to CALM DOWN?  Who do you think you are, the Queen of the Universe?" 

The sound of the phone slamming caused Rei and Hotaru to jump, before resuming their search for information on the five strange guys.

"I hope Ami and Mina are having better luck with their research."  Rei muttered.  Hotaru nodded.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Ami was thinking just about the same thing.  She had found references to the names of all of the boys, but none of them had pictures so she wasn't sure if what she found had anything to do with them or not.  Still, it was something at least.  Yet according to her information, the people whose names matched those of her quarry had been wanted criminals during the war, were Gundam pilots, and were all approximately fourteen at the time.  The war had ended several years ago, so the timing could be right, but seriously, young teenagers more or less fighting and winning a war all by themselves? Not likely.  The article had probably meant twenty-four or something of the like.   And her research on the Winner family wasn't exactly getting her anywhere fast, either.  Something had occurred and the father had died, leaving Quatre to inherit it all.  His twenty-nine sisters all had different occupations, and all were well known in their particular field or area.  The corporation itself was above reproach, no ties to any…wait…one of the doctors who had designed the Gundams had worked for the Winner family for years.  Not that that meant anything, but she never knew.  

A movement at the other end of the room she was currently in attracted her interest.  To her surprise, Trowa Barton and Heero Yui were sitting in the library doing exactly what she was doing, researching…but what were they after?

When nothing came to her, she filed it away, and got back to reading all the articles found on Trowa Barton, Heero Yui, Quatre Winner and the Winner Corp., Chang Wufei, and Duo Maxwell. 

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_

"Hnnn."  Heero grunted, gesturing to the blue haired female sitting at a computer desk a few feet away.  

"Her name's Ami, Heero." Trowa replied absently.  For a silent person, he had said a very long sentence.   

"Hnn. Hnnnnn hnnn."  Heero mused.

"…" Trowa remarked, plopping his chin on his hand.  

"Hnn hnnn."  Heero shrugged, and resumed running through the computer's on-line catalog.

Trowa followed his lead.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_

Mina was in her element.  Gossips could be such useful sources of information, and one guys generally sucked at using to their full advantage.  

"So, why could those five guys walk out of class and not get in trouble, Andante?"

"Didn't you know?  They're supposed to be the Gundam pilots, although I think that it's probably more of a case of Relena being sweet on Heero."

"Relena Peacecraft?"  Mina asked, leaning forward.

"The one and only.  She tries to be laid back, but she is extremely possessive when it comes to Heero."

"Why would she like an anti-social human hating guy like him when she could have anyone she wanted?"  

"Probably because he is hard to get.  Not to mention the fact that he occasionally pays attention to her, which is more than any other girl ever gets from him."   Andante's eyes gleamed.  "So why the fifth degree?"

Mina leaned in a bit.  "Can you keep a secret?"

When Andante nodded, Minako continued.  "I have a friend who likes one of Heero's friends and she's trying to find out about him without going to the source.  Everybody I asked said you were the place to go to for information."

Andante gushed.  "Me?  Moi?  Little old Andante Arpeggio?  Look, you're making me blush, stop."  Ten seconds later, "So who does this friend of yours like?"

Five minutes later, the gossip session had begun.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_

"Alright, so I have the onnas' basic bios, and I did some snooping, and the area they live in has seen some funny activities going on in the area."  Wufei stated.

"Hnnn."  Heero asked.

"Exactly.  The only strange habits the areas in which those females live are the random appearances of what people there term monsters and a group of females that call themselves the Sailor Scouts." Quatre agreed with Heero's hypothesis. 

"The people we are looking for do have some strange things reported about them.   They would disappear from class, show up occasionally to class with bruises and cuts everywhere, although the teachers stated that they generally believed they had imagined the scrapes because they wouldn't be there a few hours later.  Oh, and they hung out with some older females, a Haruka Ten'oh, Michiru something or other, and Setsuna Meioh.  The blonde one with the funny hairstyle also has a cat named Luna."  Wufei finished his report on the biography of the five females that they kept running into.  

"Hnn…nnnn."  Heero remarked.

"Indeed.  Setsuna and Luna are both names that Usagi mentioned wanting information from.  But how can she get information from a cat?" Quatre wondered.

Trowa, silent until that point, made another reference to the research he and Heero had done that day, actually speaking so that his friends wouldn't need to translate.  "I found out very little about these girls.  They all tend to be in the right area when weird things occur, but that's about it.  The only other thing that might seem weird is that Ami Mizuno accepted a scholarship to a medical school in Germany, but she missed her flight, and then called to cancel her scholarship, citing her friends' need for her abilities as her reason.  Also, while we can't prove anything, and can't even prove if these "sailor scouts" exist, the girls were wearing the same outfits that those in Japan are said to wear."

"So was Wufei," Quatre pointed out.  

"Trowa did say we couldn't prove anything."  Wufei stated reasonably.

Heero grunted and went back to studying the reports he and his friends had compiled.  The other pilots looked at eachother and did the same.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*__*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*__*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Meanwhile, at a little Italian restaurant down on the wharf, green eyes met violet and things proceeded from there…

Tbc

Hope you enjoyed.  Did my best.  R/R

AutumnHime


	10. The Date

I would like to thank these people for their wonderful reviews:  **Angel313-a little longer than soon, but sooner than some of my other updates; **Joy-**hnnn…I see your point, and it makes it really hard for me to remember what I originally wanted to say there; ****Nyneve****-  I like your reviews—they mal e me laugh!  And as you can see, it is Duo and Makoto, and yes, I did indeed forget Michiru's last name—thank's for the help =)** Erinimation-limited2-nothing—**hnn back at you; **Tenshi-hotaru******­—I totally agree, they should, but then what would I have to write about.  Besides, the girls know absolutely nothing compared to the guys. **Minnieshon**—the sad thing is, I like math.  But yes, while taking it, Calculus was totally crazy and evil; ****GracedAngel1854; Pyro Kitty Cat;  John Steppenwolf—you weren't wrong, the girls really didn't find out much.  Nobody believes they are the Gundam Pilots, all they really now is that Relena likes to say that, probably because (according to Andante) Relena likes to make herself more important.**

THANKS AGAIN!

I don't own 'em only the story!

**In From The Cold**

**Chapter 10:  The Date(s)**

**By: AutumnHime**

Indigo eyes crashed with forest as Duo and Makoto studied one another over the typical white and red checked tablecloth, a basket of breadsticks and a candle in a wine bottle holder between them.  

"So what are you going to order, Duo?" Makoto asked, sipping her iced tea.  She felt slightly uncomfortable.  A date with a hot guy was good and all, but how do entice him to give up information?

Duo studied the menu carefully.  "I don't know…maybe the pasta primavera with a Caesar salad or maybe fettuccini alfredo with chicken and tiramisu for dessert, so many choices, how does one decided."  He glanced up, his eyes highlighted by the humor in them.  "How about you, Makoto?  What are you going to get?"

Makoto twirled a strand of hair around her index finger.  "Probably the spaghetti with meatballs and a house salad on the side."  The waiter meandered back to their table, and both placed their orders, Duo deciding to have the Fettuccini Alfredo with chicken. 

Duo then pounced on Makoto.  "Out of curiosity, did you have a reason for inviting me to dinner?"  

Makoto swallowed hard and nearly choked on the breadstick she had been munching on.  "What, I can't ask a cute guy on a date without getting the third degree?"

Duo noted her reaction, and with the intelligence he normally let fade into the background, filed it away.  He responded easily to the question, widening his eyes in an exaggeratedly shocked manner, and made his voice slightly more aggressive.  "What, I merely rate cute?  And here I thought I was hot.  There goes my ego."  The smile he flashed her took away any remorse she might have been feeling for her remark.  "And no, you can't ask a cute guy you've seen crossdressing on a date without getting the third degree."

Makoto laughed and leaned in slightly.  "I was wondering about that.  Want to tell me why you decided to come to school dressed like a girl?" 

Duo paused as their food was placed in front of them.  He smiled at the waitress, enjoying the blush his smile caused, and then watched her walk away.  His smile increased as she turned around and smiled shyly before ducking behind a set of swinging doors.

Makoto watched the interaction with both amusement and a bit of jealousy.  _Although why I'm jealous, I have no idea.  It's not like I've known this guy for more than a few days.  She repeated her question when Duo turned back to her.  "So why did you decide to come to school dressed like a girl?"_

"Would you believe me if I told you it was a joke?" He asked, forking up some fettuccini alfredo.

Makoto nodded.  "Probably."

"How about if I told you it was a joke played on me to get back at me for playing a joke on my friends?"  Duo expounded, looking at Makoto coyly through his eyelashes.

Makoto's eyes shimmered with laughter.  "What did _you_ do to _them_?"  

"Let's just say those costumes they wore on Halloween weren't there idea, and that in order to get them there I had to take their favorite items." Duo buried his face in his hands.  "I'm so ashamed of myself."  He parted his hands a little to look at Makoto's face. 

"Give it up, Duo.  You aren't fooling me.  You would probably do it all over again."

"Quite right.  So, in return for answering your question, you have to answer one of mine."  Duo informed her, playing with the end of his braid.

Makoto thought about this for a second, and then nodded.  "Fair enough.  Shoot."

Duo, being Duo, couldn't resist.  He formed a gun with his hands.  "Bang."

Makoto giggled, and waited for his question.

"So here goes.  Are you here for any specific reason?"

Makoto stiffened slightly, then relaxed.  "We're here for the very specific reason of learning and education."

Duo again noticed her reaction and leaned back in his chair.  "Alright, fair enough.  Your turn."

Makoto tapped her chin, trying to figure out how to word her question.  "Hmmm…why did your friends leave in the middle of class yesterday?"

"We had something very important to do. Heero'd left something at home and it took all of us to get it, of course."  In reality, Dr. J had been alerting Heero to a report of some really strange machine that used harmonics and sonic waves to destroy things.  He'd wanted all the Gundams to see it in case anything else like it came up, so they'd all gone.  

The strange thing was that the scene hadn't seemed to operate on any normal mechanics, it operated on something totally different.  

Makoto smiled, just enough to let Duo know that she knew that he was lying.  "Of course.  What's your next question?"

"Why are you all so protective of Usagi?"  Duo leaned in closer, eyes intent upon Makoto's.

Makoto's eyes widened briefly.  She hadn't expected that.  "We're protective of Usagi because she's a friend, and she's Usagi. My turn. What do you know about Heero?"

Duo thought for a moment.  "Heero's a good guy.  He's a little cold, a little tense, but underneath his three miles of ice exterior beats a heart of gold.   He was an orphan and like the rest of us, had a," Duo paused and grinned but his eyes darkened, "relatively small part in the war.  We were mainly assigned to protect Relena Peacecraft, who somehow developed an obsessive crush on Heero.  Other than that, we're friends and if you take his laptop away from him, you may very well find yourself hanging over some cliffs holding onto a fraying rope.  My question now.  Would you like some tiramisu, or are you stuffed?"

Makoto laughed.  "I'm stuffed, but help yourself, if you want some.  I am, after all paying.  Let's see, what else can I ask you?  How did you and the others meet?"

Duo held off answering, ordering his slice of tiramisu.  He took a long draught of his Dr. Pepper and pondered for a second.  "Heero and I met when I tried to steal something extremely valuable of Heero's.  He had the parts that I needed to fix something of mine.  That's also when we met Relena.  As for the rest of us, we just met because of common causes and kamikazes.  Enough about my past, what did you do during the war?"

Makoto hesitated.  "I wasn't affected to badly by the war.  My parents and Rei's were killed, Mina's had gone off to fight, and Ami's mother is a doctor, so she was kept busy at the hospital.  Both of Serena's parents stayed though. They acted a lot like surrogate parents for us.  And we were very very lucky, we had each other.  But you might say we too formed a special task force, and helped keep order in and around Tokyo."

"Sounds like we had similar experiences, huh?  I was orphaned as well.  I…" Duo stopped, not believing that he had almost willingly revealed the traumatic story leading up to his role in the war.  

Makoto spoke.  "You…"

Duo stood.  "I think we should go."  He tugged her up to a standing position

Makoto didn't resist.  She had a lot to think about, and knew that she couldn't let anything she felt get in the way of her Hime's safety.  "Alright."  She paid the bill, dropped some dollars on the table, and walked out of the building with Duo on her heels.

Outside, they paused awkwardly.  "Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow at school, Makoto."

Makoto nodded. "Bye, Duo." 

The two brunettes, one green-eyed, the other with indigo orbs parted ways, the reluctance to do so almost visible.  

*_*_*_*_*_*__**__*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_**_*_*_

Two groups of people looked up as two different figures walked in through two different doors.  

"How did it go?"  One group asked, making room for their friend to sit down.

Accusing gazes greeted the other figure.  "Where were you?"  And Duo began to explain all he had learned.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_

So did you like it, hate it, wish it had more action, what?  

Oh, and get this, I wrote the next to last chappie and am working on the last one, but still have to get from point a to point b…this might be a case of working backwards  =)

AutumnHime


	11. We're Getting Nowhere

So I got a few uncomplimentary reviews this time around, I might cry.  Actually I wanted to thank everybody who did review, even if they did tell me some of my stuff needed work, I love them all the more for it! =)  It's bad to be complacent!

However, since my responses to my reviews are really long this time around, they are at the bottom, so if you care you can read them…otherwise, ON WITH THE SHOW!

**In From the Cold**

**Chapter 11:  We're getting nowhere**

**By:  Autumnhime**

Makoto walked in to the Senshi's suite, cherry brown hair down about her shoulders, scrunchy around her pale wrist.  Her forest green eyes echoed the smile on her lips when she found her friends casually collected in the middle of their living/sleeping area.  Ami, hair pulled back, and lower lip tucked between her teeth, sat at the walnut desk tucked into the corner of the wall, typing on her computer.  Rei sprawled on the floor, leaning against one of the couches that stood against the wall.  Minako lay lengthwise on that same couch, eyes closed, and hands moving languidly as she tried to explain something to the rest.  Usagi and Hotaru sat on the opposing couch.  Usagi's hair was down from its normal odangoes, and her royal blue eyes were intent upon Minako.  One of her hands rhythmically smoothed Hotaru's hair, whose head lay in her lap.  They all looked up as Makoto walked in the room.  

"Hey, Makoto!" Usagi smiled in welcome.  "How did your date go?"

Rei waggled her eyebrows.  "Yeah, Makoto, how'd it go?"

Makoto dropped to the floor by Usagi's couch effortlessly, slid one knee up, and wrapped her arm around it.  Everybody focused their attention on her. "I didn't learn too much," she began, and she related the events of that night, and what she'd noticed about his reactions.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_

In the Winner mansion, a similar pow-wow was going on between four of the five gundam pilots.  

They had gathered in the study, and were still comparing notes when they heard Duo's voice from the foyer.  "HEY, OLLY OLLY OXEN FREE!  Where is everybody?!"  

Quatre rolled his sky blue eyes in irritated amusement, and opened the oak doors of the room.  "We're in the study, Duo!"  He shook his platinum hair, and sat back down on one of the leather couches. He looked back at the other three.  "Wonder where he's been all this time?"

Heero shrugged, although he had been thinking the same thing. 

Wufei shrugged, twisting his face in a one-sided smile.  "Trust me, knowing the baka, we'll find out." 

Duo entered the room.  He glanced around, noting that the other four pilots were seated around a low table in the center of the room.  Papers were scattered across its scarred surface and of course, Heero's laptop was open in front of him.

"I'm here, let the party begin."  He trilled, as he made himself comfy on a leather sofa next to Trowa.  

"Where have you been?"  Heero demanded.  

Duo casually breathed on his fingers, then polished his nails against the nubby fabric of his plum sweater.  He looked at the results.  "I've been finessing one of the targets, of course, to gather some firsthand information."

Jaws dropped to the floor. Well, jaws actually did not drop, that being more or less a physical impossibility and just a figure of speech. Rather, the pilots eyes widened a little, and then they relaxed again.

"So what did you find out?" Wufei demanded impatiently. 

Duo dropped his pretense of nonchalance.  "Well, something is definitely up with the blonde girl with the weird hairstyle.  When I was talking with Makoto, and asked her why the five of them seemed so quick to protect her, she became a little defensive before giving me some answer about everybody being protective of eachother."

"Hnnn." Heero mused to himself.

"You're right.  If it ever comes to that, their weak point is most likely Usagi." Quatre agreed with Heero's thought.

They turned back to Duo. "Anything else, Duo?" Quatre asked.

"Let me think."  Lashes fell to cover his purple orbs, and then swept up, the indigo irises brightening. "Well, she also…" The information recitation began in earnest.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_**_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

A loud alarm startled the girls out of their conversation.  "What the…!" Rei exclaimed.  

"CRAP!  That's the alarm." Makoto exclaimed.  

"Let's go, then, my senshi!" Usagi grinned and thrust her hand into the air.  "MOON PRISM POWER!" The rest followed suit, transforming into their scout forms and away they went.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_

Halfway across town, Heero's computer beeped.  The rest of the pilots glanced up, a question in their eyes. Heero, who had finished scanning the message, hit a button, looked at his comrades and nodded. 

Without a word, they left the room at a run.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_

Short, I know.  Forgive me?  Can you guess what's coming?

Don't forget, if you don't make it past all the reviews to read and review!

Personal one-on-one thank you's:  **John Steppenwolf—What would you have said if you didn't want to give away the fact that you were overly protective of someone?  Actually, I have to agree, it was pretty stupid.  But why wouldn't Duo know that Heero had a heart of gold (that's what I'm assuming you're talking about)?  I mean, it might have been an order, but there has to be more of a reason than that to blow yourself up without questioning it…I think…Oh, and your suggestion isn't bad, so don't be surprised if you see it sometime soon; **alexz******—I'll do my best; ****GracedAngel1854—does that mean you don't like it, don't love it, and don't hate it?  Lol—thanks!; **SilverCaladan**—Where to begin?!  I'm ecstatic that you like my prologue, it is truly one of my better written pieces =).  Onto the rest, I admit, it is a little cliché (maybe more than a little) but I hope you enjoyed it and what kind of school do you go to that you can have a laptop in class?!  Oh and if you steal my line…don't be surprised if I steal one of yours!  The "it's IT" remark is because Stephen King's book IT involves a clown. I don't want you to think that I'm downplaying the abilities of the pilots, I remember thinking that it had more to do with the rest being preoccupied, so maybe next time I'll remember to write that in as well. And, I have another friend whose birthday is the day before Halloween, which reminds me, she needs an e-card—maybe I'll send you one too! ; D And I'm allowed poetic license to make Heero limp, thank you.  It is, after all, a story.  And as for the attraction thing, I was working more on the protection instinct versus attraction, but I see your point.** Erinamation-limited2-nothing—**I'm glad; **joy**—I'm glad you like it, and this is actually the first time I've ever done it…so we'll see how it goes; **Tenshi-Hotaru**—I don't know how I do it (this is the first time), and I hope you got some sleep. **Sailor Grape-** so glad to see you again! = D!  And it is very interesting how spying looks like dating…and you and Steppenwolf have relatively similar ideas; **Kaiya**—another favorite reviewer of mine that I'm glad to see back.  I have no idea either how you managed to miss chapter 9 but I'm glad you found chapter 10!  **Nyneve**—You got my hopes up with the suing thing…and then I realized I don't have the money to hire the lawyer.  And I'm glad you like the sitch b/tw Duo/Makoto. **

THANKS AGAIN EVERYBODY!

That's everybody, so Read and REVIEW!!!! I know that it's wrong to complain about numbers, but…PLEASE (begs pitifully)  Make me feel good?!


	12. The First Battle: Senshi meet the Gundam...

**In From the Cold**

**An Early End**

**AutumnHime******

The Senshi paused as they saw the fierce creatures.  However, they didn't get a chance to fight the strange looking enemies as they were immediately picked up by two gigantic hands, and placed on top of a warehouse.  The girls were startled to say the least when they discovered that their "rescuers" were the much gossiped about Gundams.  Unfortunately, the Gundams were immediately destroyed, having paid a little too much attention to the people they hadn't expected to encounter, and fell backwards, landing on top of the people they had just "saved".  Our heroes died, painful, ugly deaths too hideously long to describe, and chaos…in the form of cacophony and discordance …reigned supreme in what should have been the golden age of mankind.

That's all folks…sorry that it sucks…

AH

Alright, so I couldn't resist. Blame it on SilverCaladan for her support in this endeavor.  Oh, and so you know, that was probably the good action scene.  I stink at action; give me romantic situations and hints of angst any day. 

Oh and this chapter is in a slightly different style than most of my writing…sorry if you hate it.

In From the Cold

The First Battle:  Senshi meets Gundam

AutumnHime

It wasn't like they hadn't been expecting it, the call to battle.  After all, Luna and Setsuna wouldn't have sent them to San Francisco if something wasn't tearing at the thin barrier that generally kept the NegaVerse separated from the Universe.  But seriously, did it have to come at the highlight of a gossip session…ahem, a planning session?

So they henshined/changed in their Sailor Soldier forms, each of which had its own special sparkle and bang—not that they really paid attention to it, Mars thought wryly. Who had time to sit around studying the effects of transformation when there were battles to be fought and worlds to be saved?

The transformations took only a second, fifteen at the most and then the sextet was off, dashing across the rooftops in search of their foe.  The blue-haired Sailor Mercury directed them towards the harbor with the help of a nifty device she had cooked up recently.  "Although," the tactician of the group shouted with more than a hint of humor in her mountain-spring voice, "it's not like we need it."

True, the group of warriors didn't need the machine in this case.  The people flooding from that direction, ranting about monsters with speakers for midsections, or who surely would have been ranting if they weren't screaming bloody murder, and the loud booms followed by visible shockwaves of destruction were enough to point the soldiers of justice to the right spot.

The six girls stopped at the edge of the destruction, trying to fix locations in their heads.  What they saw had them shaking in disbelief and horror. 

"Sailor Moon.  Don't look."  The dark midnight voice of destruction commanded her leader to stay apart…unaffected by the horror.  She might have been the youngest of the group and in many ways, the most fragile, but she had survived hell before. Her demand reached fragile ears too late though.  They had all witnessed the scene in all its vivid detail.

"What in the name of the Moon is going on?" The Sailor of Jupiter asked in bewilderment, her green peridot eyes surveying the damage. 

The buildings in front of them had all been collapsed, or more appropriately, ripped unwillingly apart outward of what, had it been an earthquake, would be the epicenter.

Wood and metal twisted in deranged patterns, with the crimson that normally would have signaled life adding to the grotesque beauty.  Bodies lay on the ground, too many of them, some mangled beyond the scope of human imagination, some…so many of them not moving.  The ones that had somehow survived pleaded, screamed, mewled piteously for help.  

"I've never seen a sight like this before," Usagi whispered, hand pressed to her mouth in a desperate attempt to keep the contents of her currently roiling stomach from spilling out.  Silvery tears welled up in her eyes.  As much as she wished she had never looked, as Sailor Saturn had told her not to, as much as she wanted to look away, she couldn't.  She couldn't tear her summer blue eyes away from such a sight, and she knew this was a sight that would haunt her forever.  Here was the reason why people fought so desperately for peace, why she and her friends had given their lives so many times to a cause and a war that would never let them go.  "Not even in the last war did I see anything this bad."

The other Senshi agreed.  They had not been "in" the fight between the Earthsphere and the Colonies, but everyone's lives had been affected.  Rei's grandfather's temple had become a makeshift hospital for wounded.  All had volunteered at the hospital, Ami full-time, and the rest had played other roles in the war effort.  Michiru had kept those hurt by the war soothed with her violin.  Mina and Rei had put on some shows, keeping people entertained and letting the pain and fear that was the only constant in the war fade away.  

Haruka and Makoto had patrolled every day, searching for wounded in the occasional guerilla fight or bomb drop or mecha duel, not to mention the thieves and other criminal that had taken advantage of the chaotic times.  Usagi and Hotaru had taken care of the children--the wounded, the orphaned, the abandoned, and the lost children, and even this was worse than seeing the dead, hopeless expressions that had too often flickered on those small faces.  Yet that, however stupid and pointless the war may have been, had had a reason for its destruction…people were fighting for their beliefs.  This was simply wanton, gloating in its abilities.

Sailor Moon inhaled sharply, then gagged as the blood and tear filled air filled her lungs.  She ignored it for a second.  Time enough to contemplate the horror in front of her and give into the urging of her stomach to abandon its contents after they had dealt with the problem. 

The Senshi looked at their leader.  Over the years, they and she had all grown.  Gone was the scared little kid who never had any idea of how to go about a battle.  Usagi had grown through the experience, Minako thought sadly, as had they all, but it had cost them all dearly.  She had seen her friend put up a mask every once in while just to make them laugh at her again…just to hear them laugh at all.  And it had hurt even while they laughed.  Mina brushed away the tears that pressed against the back of her orbs.  Time enough later to mourn over things that would never come back and never could have been.  

Sailor Moon took another breath remembering to keep it shallow and then exhaled slowly.  "Here's the plan," she stated quietly, looking each of her loyal loved ones in the eye, her eyes hardened to winter skies. "Jupiter, you're with me.  Mercury and Saturn, get the wounded out.  Mars, Venus, guard their backs."  The expected protests arose but Sailor Moon paid them no attention.  Instead she looked them in the eye again, so they could see her unwillingness to bend. "The wounded are our first priority. Over my safety.  Do you understand?"

The four that weren't going with their pigtailed leader nodded reluctantly.  The sooner they had accomplished the task of getting the wounded out, the sooner they could do their jobs and protect her.  

"Good.  Good luck, everyone." Sailor Moon turned to her brunette friend.  "Jupiter, let's go."

And once again, the sextet was off. 

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Meanwhile…

"Do we know where we are going?" Quatre asked the unofficial leader of the group as they ran towards the hanger, his light blue eyes focused on the figure in front of him.

"The harbor."  The messy haired Japanese replied curtly.   

"The target?"  That was Wufei, tone curt as he ran through katas to match his pace.  

"More of those sonic creatures from yesterday." 

"Backed by?"  That was Trowa, no more talkative then normal.

"No idea."  Heero responded to the interrogation while keeping up his pace.  Did it normally take this long to get to the hanger?

"Hey guys, lighten up."  The braided American's voice was almost jovial. "We get action!  We get to destroy things, what could be better?"

"Baka," was the only reply the violet-eyed teen received.

They reached the hanger, not even pausing to turn on the lights, and continued the run to their mechanical partners, hurling themselves into the cockpit.  

Twenty seconds later, five gigantic machines soared into the night sky. 

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*__*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Meanwhile…

"How are you doing in the removal of the injured?"  Jupiter called through her communicator, mossy eyes never pausing in the scanning of their surroundings.  She and Usagi had been searching for the "monsters with stereos for midsections" for almost ten minutes without finding a single thing.  

The device crackled with static for a second, followed quickly by Mars' reply.  "We're almost done.  There are about four more.  But…" Her voice trailed off, and even the flattened tones caused by the gadget could not hide the concern in her voice.  

"But what?"  Jupiter demanded anxiously, wondering if something had happened to one of the other members.  Sailor Moon jerked her head up at the tone and stared at her protector, eyes' widened in fear.  

"I'm not sure if Saturn is going to be able to continue.  She's healing the ones that have been the worst injured, and if she doesn't stop soon she's going to collapse.  But we won't be able to get her to leave while she believes Sailor Moon might need help."

Jupiter had been so wrapped in her conversation, she didn't notice the approach of the smaller pig-tailed girl until the communicator was neatly divested from her grasp.  "Mars?"

"Hai, Hime?"  Mars replied in Japanese, startled by the sudden change in voices.  

"Tell Saturn that she will be of no use to me if she collapses during a battle and could get the rest of us killed trying to protect her.  Have her finish the healing and then send her home.  Understand?"

Whatever reply Mars might have made was lost as Sailor Moon was knocked to her knees by the Soldier of Jupiter.

"What are you doing…" Sailor Moon started to turn when she noticed what her guardian must have seen.  A creature that was a cross between a stereo, a tank, and a normal monster was moving steadily towards them.  The area she had just been standing in had been destroyed by an attack Sailor Moon would never have seen coming, and probably would not have survived had Jupiter not knocked her out of the way. 

"Are you alright?"  Jupiter asked, ignoring the pain from the cuts and bruises that dotted her body now from the debris that had gone flying when whatever the attack had been hit. 

Sailor Moon nodded, and put her nail-polished hands on the ground trying to push herself up.  She fell almost as soon as she stood, caught only by the quick reflexes of the green and white clad girl behind her.

"Hime?"  Jupiter murmured, the unspoken question in her voice. She kept one eye on the creature advancing towards them and the other on her blonde friend.

"Must have twisted it." The slight Japanese blonde replied through gritted teeth trying to block out the dull nagging pain.  "I hate to tell you this, Jupiter, but I think we are in trouble…" And the Warrior Princess of the Moon began to pray desperately as she noticed that it was about to fire again.

"MARS FIREBALL IGNITE!"  A welcome voice split the night air, the way thunder breaks the ominous still of a storm.  Flames flickered out from the raven-haired figure that had appeared in front of them and hit the thing, disappearing a moment later.  

While the sound machine was distracted, Jupiter took the opportunity to sling Sailor Moon's arm around her shoulder and did her best to hobble away. Unfortunately, this attracted more attention to the unlucky duo, and the monster began to advance towards them again.

"VENUS LOVE CHAIN ENCIRCLE!" The golden light from Venus's attack sped towards the being, wrapping it in chains, as the Soldier of Love appeared in front of her beleaguered companions.  This halted the creature's movements again, and a blue clad figure darted to Sailor Moon's other side, slinging Moon's other arm around her shoulders.

"C'mon, Hime!  Move your feet! We have to get out of…"  Mercury didn't get a chance to finish her words.  The sound monster had thrown another attack at them.  In what seemed like a miracle, they all managed to dodge it, Jupiter somehow managing to hurl herself and Sailor Moon to the side once more.  

The monster didn't let them recuperate this time, the attacks followed one another faster and faster.  Impossibly, they kept dodging, until it happened.  Sailor Moon slipped from Jupiter's grasp, and began to fall back towards the ground.  Jupiter, unable to change her course, closed eyes that had widened in horror to avoid watching her beloved friend be torn apart like the metal and wood they had witnessed earlier.  

"HIME!!!!" Five desperate sobs flew into the air.

*_**_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Now, I could be mean and leave you there, but…

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_

Heero started scanning the surroundings as the five mecha began the final descent to the battle ground.  His eyes widened as he noticed the civilians apparently trapped by their target.

"Target sighted. Five…six civilians in the area. Proceed with caution."  His monotone order rang loud and clear through the control chambers of the other four Gundams.  They had all spilled their share of innocent blood and would go to great lengths not to do it again.

"Civilians?!"  Incredulity swam in Wufei's voice.  He took a closer look at the screen as the Gundams rapidly approached the sight.  "ONNAS!?"

Duo jumped in.  "You know they aren't doing to badly.  They're dodging that thing's attacks pretty well."  

"But that's all they can do.  They can't get away and its only luck that they haven't been hit yet.  We have to help!"  Quatre had a duality to his voice.  Both the group's tactician and its heart were present.  He kept one thought to himself though.  _I think we know them…_

"It's not just luck."  Trowa stated, his brevity saying volumes.  Evidently they had at least some skill and could pull off jumps that had seemed to be a specialty to the acrobat.  His green eyes narrowed as he studied the screen.  Three of the civilians were scattered.  One was on top of a roof far enough away to be out of immediate danger, but still closer than any sane person would want to be.  But two were still together…"One of them is injured."

His proclamation came at the same moment the two girls began to slip apart, and all five pilots watched horrified as the blonde? one began to fall heading directly for an oncoming blast.  

Five cries of "Hime!" mingled with five disparate cries.  "SHIT!" "SHIMATTA!" "NO!" "KUSO!" and "OH ALLAH!" echoed in the Gundams.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*__**_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

Sailor Moon braced herself for the pain she knew was coming the minute she had slipped from the Sailor of Lightning's grasp.  She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, reflecting on all the things she had seen. 

She felt herself hit the ground, landing with a loud thud on the broken earth.  But…shouldn't the blast have hit by now?  She opened her eyes and found herself staring up at a gigantic humanoid machine.  A GUNDAM!?  A GUNDAM HAD SAVED HER?!  

She looked around…not just one of the infamous Gundams, but all five had surrounded the monster whose attack she had been timely rescued from.  

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

"Quatre, grab the two that are by you, I'll get these two, Duo, you grab that one.  Wufei, Trowa, keep that thing busy." Heero commanded, reaching forward with his machine arm, an obvious invitation to the blonde whose life he had just saved to get on.  

The girl hesitated, he noted, noting as well that she looked very very familiar but not bothering to think about it at the moment, before she stepped aboard.  When she was safely ensconced in his hand, he moved her towards the still intact roof and the sixth civilian, motioning for Duo and Quatre to put them all on the same building. 

In the background, he could hear the communications between Trowa and Wufei, sounding almost like they were discussing the weather as they hacked the freaky machine apart.  

Heero turned his attention back to the six really really familiar girls.  "STAY HERE!"  He commanded, using the outlink.  Chocolaty hair fell into his eyes, and he brushed it off with a quick movement.  "Quatre.  Stay here, make sure they stay here, guard them."  With that, he headed back for the monster, detachedly noting the bodies on the ground.  He had seen worse…they all had. 

"HEY!  Leave some for me!" Duo shouted in the background, hyperactive American genes at it again.

The unemotional Perfect Soldier nearly laughed at the Shinigami's antics.  And then he was all business again.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_   

In the end, it had taken the combined beam cannon of Wing along with Deathscythe's Scythe and Nataku's Dragon Fire and Heavyarm's Missile Barrage to kill the thing.  

"Hey, these things are almost like cockroaches!" Duo commented.  "Do you think that these might be the future of cockroaches…genetically engineered to produce sound waves?"

Wufei snorted and ignored the violet-eyed teen's inanity.  "Heero, should we go meet our civilians?"

"Yes."  The short reply did not surprise the Chinese pilot. The surprise came when they were next to the building.  

The cockpit of Wing opened.

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*

The girls had stayed on the roof, not so much because of the harshly spoken "STAY HERE" as the fact that they needed to rest for a while.  Saturn and Sailor Moon were the worst off, but the truth was they had all suffered scrapes and bruises.  

She studied the Gundam in front of her and wondered what kind of people piloted these things.  What kind of things they had seen in the life they lived.  

A motion in the corner of her eye distracted her from her thoughts.  The other Gundams were approaching the building.  The one that had saved her slowly stilled, as if it was losing its life.  

A hatch slowly opened.  Out stepped…"OMISELENE! HEERO!?"  Sailor Moon clapped a hand over her mouth, but it was too late.  The cobalt eyed Japanese boy turned his head towards her sharply, studying her with an intensity that saw more than they revealed.  Recognition was slowly seeping into his eyes when another hatch opened.

"YOU!"

*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_*_

Alright, so I'm kind of mean, but this is a good place to stop.  I'll do my best to update in three weeks or so, but no promises.

Review please. (As you made it down here, I'll assume you read it)


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